Brackenridge man pleads guilty to $101,000 federal credit union robbery

A Brackenridge man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a July 2019 robbery of more than $100,000 from the Allegheny-Ludlum Brackenridge Federal Credit Union.

Thomas George, 66, pleaded guilty to one count of armed bank robbery, according to acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman.

According to court records, on July 10, 2019, George entered the credit union wearing a white “Guy Fawkes” mask typically associated with the hacker collective Anonymous and the anti-hero V in the 2005 film, “V for Vendetta.” He pointed what appeared to be a pistol at two tellers and demanded they open the interior gate leading behind the counter.

George then demanded that they open the credit union’s vault, where he took about $101,000, federal authorities said.

Employees at the credit union told police that George was a longtime customer. He had been at the credit union on the morning of the robbery making a $50 deposit, and drove the same car he used later that day to leave the robbery scene.

Authorities executed a federal search warrant about a week later at George’s residence.

But George wouldn’t come out. He began a police standoff that lasted nearly five hours, talking with police by phone and ultimately surrendering.

Investigators found a 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun, fully loaded with a round in the chamber on George’s basement steps.

They also found a bag containing more than $90,000 of the stolen money in George’s furnace, according to federal authorities.

Kaufman said George waived his rights confessed to investigators, but said he’d used a BB gun, not the 9mm handgun, in the robbery.

George faces a total sentence of up to 25 years in prison. He remains out on bond, with conditions imposed by the federal court, pending sentencing.